May 22, 2016

Steven King

The book on Steven King - the hockey player - is anything but a horror story.

King was a native of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Naturally he went to the island's esteemed Ivy League Brown University, where he starred on the ice for the Bears and earned a degree in Organizational Behavior and Management.

The New York Rangers selected the right winger with a quick shot in the 1991 supplemental draft. That was a draft the league used to hold to select graduating collegiate players who had been previously passed over in the NHL Entry Draft.

The Rangers liked what they saw in King. He had decent size and was at his best when he was finishing all of his checks. He had a hard shot which he got off in a hurry. He was a deceptive skater in that he lacked top end speed but he could hold his own and be an effective player with or without the puck.

After a season and a half of apprenticing with the Rangers farm team with Binghamton of the AHL he debuted in the NHL with 24 games - scoring seven goals and twelve points - with the Rangers in 1990-91.

King was returned to Binghamton before the end of the season and, despite his solid stint in the NHL, the Rangers left him exposed in the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft.

The Anaheim Ducks made King the first forward chosen in the expansion draft. He would get off to a slow start with Anaheim, but once he was prescribed a new set of contact lenses he seemed to also find his scoring touch. King insisted it was just coincidence.

With eight goals and eleven points in 36 games, King was just rounding into form when disaster struck. He suffered a serious shoulder injury that not only required surgery but would cost him an entire season and a half.

King would eventually return and post some decent numbers in the minor leagues he would only play seven more games with the Ducks. He would sign with Philadelphia and Phoenix but never played for them.

King retired in 2000 after several seasons in the minors. In 67 career NHL games he scored 17 times and set up 8 others for 25 total points.

In retirement King returned to Brown University and serve first as an assistant coach and then as the Executive Director of the Brown University Sports Foundation and Senior Vice President of University Advancement.

King later moved to Boston to become a vice president with the private bank J.P. Morgan.

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